2013 NJCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Champions: Iowa Central Community College

FORT DODGE, Iowa – National Championship trophies for NJCAA Division I Cross Country were again awarded to the men’s team from Central Arizona and the women’s squad from Iowa Central at the 2013 national meet held at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Saturday and hosted by Iowa Central Community College.

Central Arizona captured its second consecutive team title with a team score of 38 points. Iowa Central came in second with 53 and South Plains (Texas) was third with 98. CAC raced to its sixth national title in program history thanks to five runners finishing in the top 20. Harry Mulenga finished first overall with a time of 24:39.5. He is the eighth Vaquero runner take home the individual title since the NJCAA first sponsored a cross country championship meet in 1959. Todd Jackson, who was CAC’s top finisher last year, came in fourth (25:23.7), Jackson Thomas was sixth (25:36.5), Apolinar Baltazar finished seventh (25:40.5) and Jose Wells was 20th overall (26:24.2).

Iowa Central won its third consecutive women’s title with an impressive performance by its top five runners. Hannah Maina was the first to cross the finish line (18:12.6) to claim the individual title. Aden Alemu and Tara Jackson both finished in the top 10 with times of 18:22.5 and 18:45.6, respectively. Kim Carter then finished 13th (19:00.2) and Lauren Roberts came in 16th (19:12.3). ICCC’s 41 team points was well in front of runner-up Central Arizona (96). Gillette (Wyo.) finished third in the team standings with a team score of 173.

Iowa Central has now won five women’s cross country national championships and is the first program to win three or more consecutive titles since 2001 when Ricks College (Idaho) captured its last of six straight championships (1996-2001).